Carnival
Professor David Hendy tells the story of a Medieval street party that lasted for eight weeks, with streets filled with processions, animal baiting, games and mystery plays.
Feast days in Medieval Europe were noisy affairs - the streets filled with processions, animal baiting, games and mystery plays.
Professor David Hendy of the University of Sussex tells the story of a Somerset town where a church ale got out of hand and the party went on for eight weeks. Then, as now, being raucous in the streets was a way for the dispossessed to make themselves heard - and revelry could easily tip into revolt.
30-part series made in collaboration with the British Library Sound Archive.
Producer: Matt Thompson.
A Rockethouse production for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 first broadcast in 2013.
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The eight-week medieval street party
Duration: 01:27
Broadcasts
Thu 4 Apr 2013 13:45Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4- Thu 5 Nov 2015 14:15Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
- Fri 6 Nov 2015 02:15Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
- Thu 6 Jun 2019 14:15Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
- Fri 7 Jun 2019 02:15Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 Extra
Noise retold by Matthew Herbert
The head of the New Radiophonic Workshop retells the Noise series using only the sounds.